All I Needed to Know
by Picajc15425
Summary: A missing moment/ATC to the episode Exodus 21:22. Just a little something I couldn't get out of my head.


_This one-shot came to me after seeing this episode for the first time. I hope you like it!_

"Well let me ask you somethin'," Doc looked toward her, and she had a feeling she knew what he was going to say. "How do you think Matt'd feel? What'd he do if something like that happened to you?" Yup, she saw that one coming.

Truth be told, that question had been on her mind since Frank showed up in town, and it played heavier on her mind now that Doc had told her what really happened to Maria. How any human being could do that to a woman, a pregnant woman at that. She wished she could say that it surprised her; but Kitty had known many men in her life, and she knew that they weren't all as kind and caring as her cowboy.

 _Her cowboy_. What would he do if it had been her and their unborn child left out in the elements to die? She knew he loved her just as much as Frank loved Maria- but would his desire to preserve the law win out, where Frank had forgotten about it? Would he go on a massive manhunt to find and kill the men responsible for her death? She wasn't 100 percent sure either way. He wouldn't just let it go, that she was sure of. But would he do something about it, or let it consume him?

Later that night, after the remaining two men had been put in jail, she sat up in bed and waited for him to come to her. She knew sleep would be a long time coming for both of them. While she waited, she thought back to happier times among the four of them.

A trip to Hays was never complete without sharing a meal with Frank and Maria Reardon. Kitty had liked Maria from the moment they had met- she was kind, and funny, and had no problem putting either Frank or Matt in their place- a trait Kitty greatly admired and possessed herself. They had shared many laughs among the four of them, and as close as Matt and Frank were, so became Kitty and Maria. Matt and Kitty knew that they could simply be themselves around their friends, be and act like the couple they really were. Frank and Maria appreciated that the lawman and the saloon owner never judged their relationship, and just accepted them the way they were. When Frank and Maria had decided to leave Hays, the foursome were all heartbroken in one way or another. And now, three of them were heartsick at the loss of one of them.

At some point in her reminiscing, Kitty must have started crying, for that was how Matt found her when he came into her room unnoticed. He quickly strode to the bed and sat down next to her and took her hand; that physical contact brought her back to the present moment.

"Kitty?" he didn't need to say anything else- she knew what he was asking.

"Why did they do it?" her voice trembled. "She was kind and good. She was pregnant." Her blue eyes met his. "Why?"

Matt pulled Kitty into his arms and she let the tears flow. Like Frank needed closure, Kitty needed it to mourn her friend. "I don't know, honey. I really don't." He wrapped his arms around her slight frame and just held her; as much as she needed him in this moment, he needed her too.

"Can I ask you something?" she whispered a little while later as her sobs subsided. They were now stretched out on top of the covers of the bed, she in her nightgown, Matt still in his clothes from the day, minus his vest and boots.

He kissed the top of her head. "Anything."

"What would you do?" She didn't need to elaborate, he knew exactly what she meant. The answer to that question had run through his head in the past few days too. He knew without a doubt what he would do if it were her who had been murdered. Had he known what Will Mannon had done to her before facing him in the street, he never would have given the man a chance to draw. It took a great deal of restraint from Doc, Newly, and Festus to prevent him from marching down to Percy Crump's and shooting his corpse full of holes.

She lifted herself to look into his eyes when he didn't answer right away. At first, she was afraid she would hear an answer she didn't want. After all, Maria was Frank's wife. While she and Matt loved one another so much it hurt, they weren't married- at least not legally. To those that knew them, a piece of paper and a ring wouldn't make them any more married than they already were. But when she looked into his eyes, and saw the emotions reflected in them, she saw her answer.

"I would hunt down and kill every last one of them," he finally replied gruffly, looking into her eyes. "I wouldn't bother to bury them- I'd leave them for some animal to rip apart. Even then, it wouldn't do you justice. No punishment on earth would ever be enough." He paused. "And that would just be for _you_. If there was a baby, I…" he stopped, unable to continue with his line of thought. Losing her would kill him eventually. Losing her and their child would kill him faster. "And when it was done, I would come find you."

His last statement threw her for a bit of a loop. Would he really? He would take his own life so that he could be with her? She knew he wouldn't do it in the typical sense, no. He'd purposely go after an outlaw he knew was more than he could handle alone. He might purposely delay his draw against some gunslinger, but he would not physically take his own life.

She didn't know what to think of that at first, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she wouldn't want to live without him either. She wanted to tell him not to think of doing something so foolish, but in her heart she knew she couldn't when she would do the exact same thing, in her own way.

She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him softly. He wrapped his arms tighter around her as she snuggled deeper into his embrace, exhaustion finally catching up with both of them.

"That's all I needed to know," she whispered as her eyelids became heavy. "I love you, Matt."

"I love you too, honey."

And they fell into a sad, yet contented slumber, safe in the knowledge that when they woke in the morning, the other would still be there. 


End file.
